For many years I had an enormous curiosity to visit Budapest.
In addition, many of the people who took me on bicycle tours in Lisbon said that Budapest is a great destination, that it’s a fantastic city and that I should visit.
This possibility arose last year and I didn’t hesitate. I don't like to travel with a busy schedule. Whenever I go on vacation, I like to feel free and without obligations. I like to let myself be guided by emotions and the way I live each moment.
I don't have the patience to look in the tour guides in advance for what to do, to see and to visit.
The only thing I usually do, especially when I visit a city for the first time, is to book a bike tour, with a guide, for the first morning.
I do this for 5 reasons:
1 - It allows me to see a large part of the city in a short time;
2 - It allows me to have someone who introduces me to the city, who tells me about the history, the monuments and also how the locals live the city;
3 - It helps me a lot to define the places that I may be interested in visiting with more attention;
4 - Help me to plan the following days;
5 - And if I have a good guide, I can get to know good places to eat, to have a drink, to visit.
Currently, because I do bicycle tours in Lisbon and across the country (Portugal), I have an additional reason to choose this type of experience - see how bicycle tours are made in other countries and how other operators work.
So, in Budapest there could be no such exception and I booked a bike ride for my first morning in this city.
In good time I did, this bike tour was amazing and made me realize that Budapest has much more to see and know than I imagined.
For 4 hours, almost all spent on the Pest side, a flat and great area for cycling. I cycled huge avenues, such as the beautiful Andrássy Ut, among many other things we had the chance to see the historic Horror House, I crossed wonderful and pleasant gardens, especially Városliget, very beautiful squares, from which I highlight Hosok and there was still time to go over the historic Szabadság bridge.
We also cycled along the Danube, which makes the border between Buda and Pest, and there was still time for short stops, where the guide introduced us to the rich history of Hungary and Budapest.
I’m not going to mention here all the monuments I saw during this tour, it would be a very long list.
However, as I am greedy, I untie the stop at Szamos Café, near Hungary Parliament, where I tasted one of the best chocolate cakes in the world.
(If someone comes to Lisbon to take a bike tour with me, can bring me a slice of this wonderful cake – I’ll be very happy and I’ll share with Pastel de Belém).
At the end of this tour, because both I and my family loved this experience, I offered a good bonus to the guide and hurried to do a 5-star review for this operator.
If you ever visit Budapest don't hesitate to take one of these bike tours.
